fortitude

\fɔʁ.ti.tyd\

/\fɔʁ.ti.tyd\/ noun

The verdict

“fortitude” is uncommon French (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency French
9
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Énergie morale devant le danger ou dans la souffrance ; courage en endurant ou en subissant (par opposition au courage d’entreprendre des actions périlleuses).

Corpus desk

Index FR-fortitude · fortitude · French

fortitude · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "F" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for fortitude
PropertyValue
Headwordfortitude
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\fɔʁ.ti.tyd\
Letters9
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Où “fortitude” se place dans la fréquence du français

fortitudesiège au-delà des 100.000 formes les plus fréquentes du français, dans la traîne du lexique spécialisé ou peu usité.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

fortitude is uncommon French outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed \fɔʁ.ti.tyd\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Énergie morale devant le danger ou dans la souffrance ; courage en endurant ou en subissant (par opposition au courage d’entreprendre des actions périlleuses).".

Zero misspellings are on record for fortitude in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is fortitude, spelled F-O-R-T-I-T-U-D-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Énergie morale devant le danger ou dans la souffrance ; courage en endurant ou en subissant (par opposition au courage d’entreprendre des actions périlleuses).

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how fortitude appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. On a vu des Français supporter les tourments du cadre de feu avec la fortitude des Indiens mêmes.
  2. Pour le bénéfice du secrétaire qui ramassait ses papiers avant d’aller copier dans la pièce voisine, le gros Philibert observa révérencieusement qu’on parlait beaucoup du courage des rebelles exécutés par ordre du duc (on en doublait d’ailleurs le nombre), mais pas assez de la fortitude de cet homme d’État et de guerre mourant sous le harnois de son maître.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "fortitude"?
"fortitude" is spelled F-O-R-T-I-T-U-D-E. The IPA pronunciation is \fɔʁ.ti.tyd\.
What does "fortitude" mean?
As a noun, "fortitude" means: Énergie morale devant le danger ou dans la souffrance ; courage en endurant ou en subissant (par opposition au courage d’entreprendre des actions périlleuses).
How do you pronounce "fortitude"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "fortitude" is \fɔʁ.ti.tyd\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "fortitude" come from?
"fortitude" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

What to do next

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Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list